The Color of My Words: List 2

by Lynn Joseph
Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Ana Rosa longs to become a writer. When her brother leads a protest against the construction of a hotel on their village's land, Ana Rosa learns about both the power and limitations of words.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rickety
    inclined to shake as from weakness or defect
    In the middle of the porch was a rickety table full of bottles of liquid gold shining in the sunlight.
  2. lurch
    move suddenly or as if unable to control one's movements
    By the time Papi arrived on Sosúa Beach, he could hardly walk. He would stumble along, tripping over my friends’ towels and baskets. He’d lurch toward me and hug me tightly, saying, “Do you love your Papi? How much do you love your Papi?”
  3. fortify
    make strong or stronger
    From his place next to Mami, Papi would shout at us, demanding that we bring cups of rum and Coke from friends’ coolers. Fortified with that, he would shake Mami by the shoulders asking, “¿Qué pasa, mi amor?”
  4. mutilate
    destroy or injure severely
    “Claro que sí,” I would answer. “Of course yes.” And I tried to squirm away from his mutilating breath.
  5. testify
    provide evidence for
    Guario even shook my ponytail and told me that I better not get any funny ideas in my head because “you’re the very same Ana Rosa as ever,” he testified.
  6. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    The man stood on a makeshift stage, the back of a pickup truck, with a megaphone in hand announcing to us as if he were reading out the lottery numbers.
  7. megaphone
    a cone-shaped acoustic device to amplify the human voice
    The man stood on a makeshift stage, the back of a pickup truck, with a megaphone in hand announcing to us as if he were reading out the lottery numbers.
  8. innumerable
    too many to be counted
    Nothing was safe from the painters, who were said to be armed by the government men themselves with innumerable paint cans.
  9. slogan
    a favorite saying of a sect or political group
    The people were also coming up with slogans and hand signals to identify each candidate so that wherever you went in the streets, people were giving each other their signal, and a hail of cheers would erupt.
  10. hail
    many objects thrown forcefully through the air
    The people were also coming up with slogans and hand signals to identify each candidate so that wherever you went in the streets, people were giving each other their signal, and a hail of cheers would erupt.
  11. longing
    prolonged unfulfilled desire or need
    Me, I didn’t pay it too much attention. I went to school and helped Mami and Angela in the house and wrote in my notebooks that Guario gave me. I was close to putting away my longing for Angel and accepting the idea of Angela and Angel as novios.
  12. defy
    resist or confront with resistance
    From the time I was little, Mami used to tell us the story of Guarocuya, who had defied the Spanish conquistadors and conquered them in battle after battle, disguising himself as a rock, a tree, or a river until eventually the King and Queen of Spain wanted to give him a title.
  13. conquistador
    a 16th-century Spanish conqueror of Peru and Mexico
    From the time I was little, Mami used to tell us the story of Guarocuya, who had defied the Spanish conquistadors and conquered them in battle after battle, disguising himself as a rock, a tree, or a river until eventually the King and Queen of Spain wanted to give him a title.
  14. eventually
    after an unspecified period of time or a long delay
    From the time I was little, Mami used to tell us the story of Guarocuya, who had defied the Spanish conquistadors and conquered them in battle after battle, disguising himself as a rock, a tree, or a river until eventually the King and Queen of Spain wanted to give him a title.
  15. stride
    walk with long steps
    Guario came striding up, his face glistening with sweat.
  16. corrupt
    dishonest or immoral or evasive
    On our porch that night, everyone had questions and no one had any answers. Someone suggested we go to the Courts.
    “Too corrupt,” Señor Garcia said. “We’d never win because all the judges are on the President’s side.”
  17. consume
    engage fully
    When the three daily newspapers printed my article almost word for word, Mami stopped speaking and became a silent shadow slipping in and out of the spaces of our lives, which were now completely consumed with our battle.
  18. lofty
    of high moral or intellectual value
    While I was thinking these lofty thoughts, Guario was very busy.
  19. agony
    intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
    I was so busy being angry that I almost didn’t hear him whisper, “Oh God, Ana Rosa, I hate what we’re going to do. This should not happen.”
    The agony I heard in his voice sucked me under.
  20. indifference
    the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things
    “This is what you are fighting for today—your family, your homes, your past, and—the start of our futures! Let’s pray for understanding instead of indifference, friends instead of enemies, generosity instead of selfishness. And most important, words instead of violence!”
  21. lug
    carry with difficulty
    Papi and his amigos went to the porch next door lugging black truck tires and cans of gasoline.
  22. rosary
    a series of prayers counted using a string of beads
    I listened to Mami recite the holy rosary and watched as her fingers moved from bead to bead.
  23. familiarity
    usualness by virtue of being well known
    The words had a nice familiarity and quietness to them.
  24. scuttle
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    Boom! An explosion rocked the ground and a cloud of black smoke rose into the sky. I covered my head and ran like a lizard low and fast straight to my gri gri tree. I scuttled up, ripping my hands and feet on the branches.
  25. scamper
    run or move about quickly or lightly
    The government workers scampered off the trucks, coughing and waving the smoke from their faces.
  26. haze
    dust or smoke in the air that causes reduced visibility
    On the other side stood my family and neighbors—Señor Garcia, Señor Rojas, Papi, and Guario in the front. They were armed with stones and bats and broken bottles with edges gleaming green through the haze.
  27. rubble
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    There were piles of pink and blue and purple rubble left behind—the bricks of once-upon-a-time houses.
  28. budge
    move very slightly
    The fat guardia in the red cap was pushing his gun at Guario, trying to get him to move away from the tree, but Guario wouldn’t budge.
  29. collage
    any collection of diverse things
    This portrait of magic
    held in my hands,
    a collage of words
    colors and plans.
  30. backfire
    emit a loud noise as a result of an explosion of fuel
    And then one morning, when I was climbing the tree, a loud noise rang out over the village. It might have been a motorcycle backfiring.
Created on Mon Jan 20 20:40:07 EST 2020 (updated Wed Jan 29 11:37:04 EST 2020)

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